Russian Railways have reported an 11.6% year-on-year increase in rail container traffic during January-February 2021. All in all, 964.2 thousand TEU was carried during the period under report.
Domestic container traffic grew by 4.5% up to 363.9 thousand TEU, export was up 3.6% to 244 thousand TEU, import up 3.8% to 198.2 thousand TEU, while transit surged 81.8% up to more than 152.7 thousand TEU.
Laden container traffic made circa 665.6 thousand TEU, up 17.8% year-on-year.
Commodity-wise, containerized grains grew the most, up 4-2-fold up to 6.2 thousand TEU. Machinery, engines and equipment grew by 46.7% up to 53.7 thousand TEU, ferrous metals by 42.6% up to 38.8 thousand TEU, fruit, vegetables and potatoes by 41.7 up to 1.7 thousand TEU.
Consumer goods transportation increased by 38.5% up to 71 thousand TEU, hardware by 34.2% up to 59.4 thousand TEU.
Non-ferrous metals were up 23.9% up to 25 thousand TEU, non-ferrous metal ore and raw sulphur up 24.9% to 5.5 thousand TEU, other and LCL cargo up 18.2% to 21.5 thousand TEU, construction cargo up 13.2% up to 16.7 thousand TEU.
Containerized chemicals and soda grew by 8.9% year-on-year up to 119.9 thousand TEU, vehicles and parts by 7.8% up to 41 thousand TEU, paper by 0.1% up to 60 thousand TEU, ‘other’ food products by 20.3% up to 22.9 thousand TEU.
In February, containerized coal transportation by rail started with 3.2 thousand tons carried during the period under report.
Containerized timber and woodwork were down 0.1% to 78.4 thousand TEU, oil and products down 23.3% to 11.1 thousand TEU, metal structures down 6.1% to 2 thousand TEU, chemical and mineral fertilizers down 4.6% to 6.2 thousand TEU.
Fish was down 10.2% to 3 thousand TEU, and meal and flour down 5.3% to 1.6 thousand TEU.